The symbol of the abbot's staff at St Vigeans

A while ago, I was able to attend the open day of St Vigeans Pictish stones museum. St Vigeans is a small village close to the town of Arbroath on the north east coast. At St Vigeans, there’s a church on a large mound overlooking the Brothock water, which runs down to Arbroath. Dozens of Pictish stones and stone fragments were found at the church. St Vigeans was probably the site of a Pictish monastery dating to the 8^th century. There were a couple of Pictish stones I wanted to see, one of them being the Drostan stone with the inscription ‘Drostan in the time of Uurad and Fergus’. However, I came across a couple of stone fragments, which I found quite interesting. On one of the fragments, there’s a figure with a hood and two symbols, a monk or abbot’s staff and a double disc. The other fragment has the head of the horse, which the figure is probably riding. At the back of the two fragments, there’s a Celtic cross. These stone fragments probably date to the 8^th/9^th centuries. As far as I know, this is the only example of a staff being used as part of a symbol pair. The staff surely represents the status of the figure as a monk or abbot. The double disc may be a symbol of material wealth e.g. a brooch, or a tribal symbol. In a previous post, I suggested that the double disc and Z rod may be the symbol of the Caledonians or Dicaledones. This symbol is predominantly found in southern Pictland and Aberdeenshire. The figure may be the abbot of the monastery or St Vigean himself. However, St Vigean was an Irish monk, so it’s doubtful he was associated with the Caledonians, unless of course he had a Pictish mother or father. When I left the museum, I found a Pictish stone which had been carved by David McGovern, which seems to have been inspired by the stone fragments. It gives you an idea of what the Pictish stone would have looked like when it was first carved. I have included photos of the stone fragments as well as a couple of the other Pictish stones below.